Results tagged “electronicmusicfestival”

Sunburned, gaunt and greviously underslept, the average Torontonian party-goer is in rough shape this week after the World Electronic Music Festival, or WEMF 2007 this past weekend. To nobody's surprise, WEMF isn't dead, international trance DJ Ryan "OS/2" Kruger isn't retiring and the image of thousands of ravers from the city camping in an Ontario field for three days is seemingly burned into Toronto's collective tube. It is estimated that over 5,500 people, mostly from the GTA and upstate New York, attended the three-day festival at the Niagara Regional Exhibition in Welland, ON.

On Sunday, the twelfth installment of the World Electronic Music Festival drew to a close. Even so, I expect most of the 5,000 or so sleep-deprived Torontonians who trekked out to Tweed, Ontario for the outdoor festival are still recovering. This was an odd year, with Destiny Productions opting to include a rock stage for the first time ever, partnering with Edge 102 to bring names like Broken Social Scene, Pilate and Mobile. This year, the promoters decided that teens in euroshag haircuts and studded belts would mix awkwardly with their binkie- and fun fur-clad counterparts.

Calling Beat, Breaks and Culture the Toronto Electronic Music Festival is a bit of a pickle. Supposing the ‘electronic’ refers to the "computer generated visual performance, film and video" and "live Canadian and international electronic artists," there’s still a real gap between the ‘electronic artist’ tag and the highlights Platinum Pied Pipers. Featuring Detroit’s finest rapper/producer Jay Dee, the PPPipers, along with Jean Grae, graffiti art and the film Freestyle, represent the festival’s strong hip-hop flavour - making the ‘electronic’ aspect an aftertaste. Not to say Denise Benson or Out Hud are an aftertaste, but more so that this is an odd collection of artists to file in one cabinet. But then again, if the worst part of a festival is the name, you have yourself a worthwhile event.